Improvement in books



V mmnum BOOK.

No. 191,4;24. Pa'tentedMaf 29,1877

WI TNESSES INVENTOR ATTORNEYS NPETERS, PHDTO-LITHOGRAFNER, WASHINGTON. ,0 C,

UNITED JAMES M. HARPER, OF EL PASO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 191,424, dated May 29, 1877; application filed January 20, 1877.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JAMES MONROE HAR- PER, of El Paso, in the county of Woodford and State of Illinois, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in InvoiceBooks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being bad to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure l of the drawings is a representation of a perspective View of my invoicebook, and Fig. 2 is an edge view thereof.

This invention relates to devices for filing invoices, bills, and slips of similar size and form. It consists in a book provided with a detachable cover, and with leaf-stubs which are regularly graduated in length, for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, A designates the cover, and B theleaf-stubs, of my book. Said book is long and narrow, so as to correspond to the general shape of invoices and similar papers. Its form may, however,

be varied, so as to suit other kinds of documents, without departing from the spirit of my invention. Said cover is attached to said stubs by mucilage at its back a, or in any other manner which permits easy separation, but makes sufficient connect-ion to protect the invoices or other contents. Said stubs B are graduated in length from one side of said book to the other, as shown in Fig. 2. The object of this construction or arrangement is to enable the invoices to be attached to said stubs by mucilage or other adhesive material without sticking the separate stub-leaves or invoices together. In such attachment the book is placed with the longest of said leafstubs uppermost. Mucilage is then spread upon the said leaf-stub at its free end. As said end extends beyond the lower stubs, the latter will not receive any of the mucilage. An invoice or bill, preferably the shortest one, is then placed, face upward, and with its top upon the end of said stub, smeared, as above described, with adhesive material; and by gentle pressure the said leaf-stub and invoice are caused to adhere. The remaining invoices are then attached in the same manner to the remaining leaf-stubs, the longest stub being first used in each case, until the book is filled, as shown in Fig. 1. There will now be no danger (or very little) of the invoices or stubs sticking together, which is often a serious inconvenience when stubs of equal length are used.

The cover A may now be removed and a similar set of graduated stubs attached thereto, as before. The first set of stubs and invoices, conveniently and regularly arranged, asabove described, may then be filed away in any convenient receptacle, or disposed of otherwise, as is most convenient. Cover A may be used successively with a number of sets of stubs, B.

I am aware that engravings have heretofore been attached to a series of stubs arranged in a book, and gradually tapered inwardly in opposite directions, at or about the same angle from the longer and central stub, as shown in Letters Patent granted to W. T. Anderson dated October 2, 1870, No. 30,277,

7 and,

therefore, I lay no claim to such invention, in

which, in applying the mucilage to the stub to which an engraving is to be attached endwise, said stub does not protect and prevent the mucilage from being placed on the succeeding stub, as in my invention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A series of stubs arranged in a book, having the top stub longer than the others, and each succeeding stub longer than the stub below it, so that mucilage or other adhesive substances may be appliedto a projecting stub,for the attachment of an invoice or bill, without liability of the stubs below it receiving any of the adhesive material, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of detachable cover A, with stubs B, of graduated length, as shown, and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES MONROE HARPER.

Witnesses:

LEVI SMITH, W. R. WILLIs. 

